Early institutions 1788-1904
The placement of Aboriginal children in institutions was intended to educate and assimilate them into white society. Early institutions were established to teach English and promote assimilation, followed by the establishment of children's institutions for domestic service apprenticeships.
Early institutions, such as the Parramatta Native Institution, established under Governor Macquarie’s orders in 1814 () were designed to educate and ‘civilise’ Aboriginal children and teach them English.
Records from 1881 of the Aborigines Protection Association (APA), a non-government body, indicate their aim to use boarding-out, as well as institutionalisation and apprenticeships, to ‘absorb’ Aboriginal children into white society (). The APA was wound up in 1897 and the Aborigines Protection Board (APB) took control of their finances and records ().
In the 1890s, the APB began to establish children’s institutions, such as Warangesda Aboriginal School for Girls. Girls in these homes were trained for domestic service apprenticeships (see SUB0040 and SUB0093). Aboriginal children who had lighter skin were often sent to the non-Aboriginal institutions.
Multiple laws governed the institutionalisation of children generally in state care, such as the Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act 1901 (NSW) (). None of the laws dealt specifically with Aboriginal children, and there are limited records to show how these laws applied to Aboriginal children in practice.